mars 6.x upgrade via GUI - not working

randytoni · ‎04-15-2010

Hi all - have a MARS box at 6.05 and wanted to upgrade to 6.06. I see there's a GUI option for grabbing packages and upgrading direct-from-cisco CCO now.

from the "Cisco Security MARS Initial Configuration and Upgrade Guide, 6.X":

- Cisco recommends that you upgrade your system using the web interface

- If you select Cisco.com, you must upgrade using the web interface.

The documentation states the ONLY way to download an upgrade package direct from Cisco CCO is via the GUI. And they recommed the GUI anyway.

So I set the browser up (IE6 and IE8) such that the MARS server is in the trusted zone, all pop-ups turned off, etc. -- as per Cisco docs. Proxy settings as well as CCO account credential also added and verified in the MARS GUI. I try to import updates and I do get as far as downloading the catalogue of available update packages (which tells me I'm getting past the proxy and connecting to CCO sucessfully). But when I select one of the packages (e.g. 6.06) and submit, and the "file download in progress" window opens - it just hangs forever. Looking at the interface stats, there is about 1 MB of traffic initially, then nothing after that. The docs say something about being prompted to verify proxy credentials, but this does not happen.

The browser might still be fubar - even though I set and verifed the IE settings as per docs.

I found a MARS blog entry online where another person also upgrading to 6.0 used the CLI to download everything from Cisco CCO. So I tried the CLI option (pnupgrade) as well. Fed in the same proxy and CCO credentials, specified the Cisco upgrade URL (found in that blog) with the package version specifics - and voila - I got the file. Exactly opposite of what the Cisco docs tell me to do (use the GUI).

Is anyone using the GUI option to download upgrade packages from CCO? This would be a much easier thing to document and pass on to the support guys here but it apparently does not want to cooperate. Is there something in the browser that's potentially hammering this process? I don't know what to check next.

Thanks

Farrukh Haroon · ‎04-22-2010

I always use the CLI for any upgrade (and will continue to do so hehe), irrespective of what Cisco says!

What Cisco docs read might be true for novice users, but cannot be taken as a generic statement. The CLI is always more verbose about things that might go wrong during the upgrade.

Regards

Farrukh

randytoni · ‎04-22-2010

Hi Farrukh - thanks for the response. I appreciate the feedback - yeah it seems the CLI is a more stable, reliable method. I could probably just let it go at that, as a better option - but having to write support documentation here that exactly contradicts the Cisco docs (instructing our support guys to do exactly what Cisco docs say you can't do) just hurts my tired brain and makes me worry about what other magical things might appear when we have problems.

thanks again...